Custom Wavefront Lasik

LASIK eye surgery has been around since 1995. The outpatient surgical procedure uses a preprogrammed excimer laser to reshape the cornea after cutting a hinged flap in the cornea and then put the flap back into its original position. It has brought benefits to people with refractive errors - nearsightedness (myopia) and farsightedness (hyperopia), with or without astigmatism - and majority of them no longer depend on glasses or contact lenses in their daily activities.

As the technology of refractive eye surgery continues to improve, a new method of laser eye surgery has been found. The new procedure is known as Custom LASIK or Wavefront LASIK. Some people may also call it Wavefront Guided LASIK. It is a variation of LASIK eye surgery that uses wavefront technology to precisely measure the irregularities in the way your eye processes images. Unlike the conventional LASIK that only uses the eyeglasses or contact lenses prescription to guide the laser in reshaping the coreal tissue, Custom LASIK or Wavefront LASIK customize all your visual irregularities in a 3-D map (wavefront map) and transfer it electronically to program the laser used in reshaping your cornea. This is because every eye’s focusing ability is unique, just like the fingerprint.

Because Custom LASIK uses a customized map in programming the laser treatment for your eyes, needless to say that Custom LASIK may bring better results compared to conventional LASIK such as sharper and higher quality vision. While traditional LASIK can only correct ordinary vision defects such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism, Custom LASIK is capable of correcting those ordinary refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism) plus other vision distortions due to higher order aberrations, that can not be corrected with glasses or contacts or even conventional LASIK surgery, such as glare, halos, starbursts, ghosting of images and poor night vision, which are the also the risks of post-LASIK complications.

But actually, not all ophthalmologists agree that Custom LASIK can treat above vision distortions. Some refractive surgeons argue that both Custom LASIK and conventional LASIK may cause these aberrations in some cases. However, research has shown that Wavefront LASIK may less likely to cause such aberrations than conventional LASIK.

The advent of Custom LASIK has increased the public interest in undergoing the customized LASIK eye surgery. But just like any other laser surgery, Custom LASIK or Wavefront LASIK may not be suitable for everyone. It is also not a surgical procedure to treat all kind of vision related problems so it is highly recommended to visit your ophthalmologist for a consultation and he or she will determine if you are a good candidate for Custom LASIK or not. Also the cost of Custom LASIK is a worth considerable thing because it is definitely costs more than conventional LASIK because it uses a wavefront scanner, called aberrometer, which is an expensive device.

Tags : LASIK, LASIK Eye Surgery, Custom LASIK, Wavefront LASIK, Wavefront, Eye, Surgery, Vision, Myopia, Hyperopia, Astigmatism, Nearsighted, Farsighted, 3D, 3-D